It was a picture-perfect afternoon at Tom Wills oval on Wednesday, as the AFLW team prepared for one of pre-seasons annual benchmark assessments.
Traditionally run as the 2km time trial, the GIANTS implement a distance of 1.6km for their pre-season endurance assessment.
The revised distance, also known as ‘The GIANT Mile’ has been implemented at the GIANTS since season seven of AFLW, reflecting a more appropriate and tailored endurance test for AFLW athletes.
“Traditionally the AFL men run and measure their aerobic fitness based on the 2km time trial but in our program we wanted to run a more tailored distance specific for the AFLW athlete," said Tom Reddin, Head of Strength and Conditioning and Sports Science.
“Generally it is believed that a test that is 5.5-7.5 minutes in duration is sufficient to determine aerobic capacity and a 1.6km time trial is right in the sweet spot for AFLW athletes to measure that.”
This season’s time trial saw a new winner and club-record holder with Madison Brazendale the first across the finish line.
It was previous winner Tarni Evans who led for majority of the run but Brazendale edged out the reigning champ with about 100 metres to go.
“It’s always a tough one to go out and do, but it felt good and I just had to hold on,” said Brazendale.
“It was great having Tarni out there, she’s a great athlete and I knew she would run a good time, so I knew if I could stick with her I was going to do okay.”
Brazendale who was a national underage 400m hurdler, credited the running program as part of the Bridge the Gap program earlier this year.
“Through the Bridge the Gap one of the focus areas included a running program and it’s definitely helped me come back fitter than last year, as I did a 30-second PB from last year.”
Brazendale was drafted to the GIANTS at pick 75 in the 2022 NAB AFLW Draft.
The readymade talent debuted in the GIANTS’ opening game in season seven and went on to play every game and was rewarded for her first season efforts, named the club’s Rising Star in her first season.
The GIANTS are in week two of pre-season with season eight of the AFL Women’s competition expected to begin in the first week of September.
GIANTS Players’ 1.6km Time Trial Top 5
1. Madison Brazendale
2. Tarni Evans
3. Nicola Barr
4. Alicia Eva
5. Alyce Parker
